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When the chill wind of early returns showed Prop. G leading Prop. F in the polls, (67 percent to 33 percent ) the folks at the Prop. F campaign HQ put it down to all the money that Lennar spent to influence the election.

The Great American Music Hall was a bit sedate when I showed up for the Yes on A party. The measure to fund teacher salaries with a parcel tax needed a two-thirds vote and it was a few points shy, but moving up since the conservative absentee ballots were counted. "I wish it weren't this close," school superintendent Carlos Garcia told me, lamenting the high vote threshold. "It's too bad. But I still have faith in San Francisco."
A few minutes later, that faith was rewarded when the new results came in: 69.6% yes with 88.8% of votes counted. Read more »

There's about 200 hundred people milling about optimistically at El Rio, for a party that's basically a catchall progressive fest for No on Prop 98, Yes on 99, Tom Ammiano, Gerardo Sandoval, Yes on F, No on G, and David Campos for DCCC.

Currently and unfortunately, 98 is failing swimmingly in SF but seems to be winning statewide (Ed Note -- this looks to have changed since I got Amanda's call). F is also failing in absentees. Read more »

Well, we got walloped on Props. G and F, but other than that, it's shaping up as a fascinating night for progressives -- and not all bad. The progressive slate nearly swept the DCCC in the 13 Assembly District. Prop. A, the school tax, won handily. Prop. E, the PUC reform, won pretty handily.

And it now appears that Mark Leno's big gamble paid off and he will be the next state Senator from District 3. And it seems like a decisive victory; with 70 percent of the precincts reporting, he's got 43 percent of the vote. Read more »

Mark Leno's election night party has been a stark contrast to what we saw earlier tonight at Joe Nation's event, which was situated at the unfortunately named "Wipe Out" restaurant in Greenbrae. Leno's campaign office in San Rafael is packed wall-to-wall, the crowd noisy and erupting in frequent applause when new figures from the secretary of state show up on a projector putting Leno ahead.

He told a radio reporter earlier tonight that overall during the election, he's had to raise $1.2 million (we've seen it in the piles of slick, anti-Nation mailers that have mounted in our mailbox). Read more »

We showed up at Joe Nation's election night party in the Marin County town of Greenbrae around eight o'clock. The event's being held at a restaurant called the Wipe Out Bar & Grill in a quiet strip mall here. State figures are showing Leno ahead of the pack by five percentage points. By the time we arrived at Wipe Out, the candidate wasn't around.

The restaurant's proprietor, Bob Partrite, told us Nation's crew was supposed to be here at a quarter of eight. Long after the hour, Nation was still missing in action. Read more »

Now Leno's back ahead with 37 percent of the vote (district wide) to Nation's 35.8. This one's going to be close.

In San Francisco, on Election Day, it's all Migden and Leno in San Francisco, and Leno is way ahead. Leno's got 62 percent of the San Francisco election-day vote, and Migden has 37 percent. So it's looking good for Leno, who has to win SF very big.

So breaking out the absentees, Sandoval is winning 55 percent of the Election Day vote. That should put him in a strong position going into the fall runoff. There's a third candidate in the race, Mary Mallen, who is at around 14 percent, so the incumbent, Judge Mellon, will get far less than a majority vote, indicating that most of the voters want someone else.

On Prop. A: The election-day results have Prop. A winning by 74 percent. So that should make up for the absentees quite nicely. I think A is now going to win.

After taking heat for weeks after the Guardian failed to endorse Carole Migden, I approach her party with a bit of trepidation, particularly after seeing her trail both Mark Leno and Joe Nation in early returns. She is speaking when I arrive, saying her thank yous. "Thank you, thank you, thank you San Francisco," she closes. Afterward I see one of her most prominent supporters, Senator Darrell Steinberg, the incoming president pro tem, whom I know a little from my Sacramento days.
"She's been a great legislator and whatever happens tonight, she has everything to be proud of. Read more »